Revealing Chivalry
by CUtopia
Summary: Sometimes, it just takes special events to reveal things that are hidden inside a person...


So, just a small imagination I had while listening to certain lines from "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge, I hope it´s not that random ;) Well, this takes place during the Yule Ball in 'The Goblet of Fire', just to explain the circumstances shortly...

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Severus felt upset and like a idiot. He had always thought that he was someone who would not be fooled easily, but now he felt that he had just been proved the opposite. How ridiculous had it been to think that the smile that Rolanda had given him as she had been coming down the stairs to the entry hall had meant something like 'Ask me for a dance later'. By the thought of her smile, he could not prevent his mind from wandering off to her beautiful face, these perfect lips, her silky silvery blonde hair that was framing her face with curls on this evening and never to forget, her eyes. He loved how they sparkled when she laughed, their deep gold seducing him to drown in them over and over again. And on this evening, the gold had even been highlighted by the color of her ball gown, a beautiful red tone, the long strapless dress pointing out her trained figure decently. Severus had felt so stunned like this only once in his life.

However, during the dinner he had seen how Ludo Bagman had involved her into a conversation. Mainly, this would not have been a problem, if he had not prevented her from talking to anyone else except him. Bagman had constantly let his gaze wander over her face and, when she had not been looking, over her whole body, the intention in his eyes making Severus literally feel sick.

_His eyes upon your face_

As the evening processed, Severus previous feeling that he had let his hope influence his interpretation of Rolanda´s smile just grew bigger as he was standing by the bar, a fire whiskey in his hand as he watched Rolanda and Bagman while they danced. Rolanda did not show particular signs that she was not enjoying Bagman´s company, smiling at him from time to time when had obviously made one of his compliments. They surely knew each other, Severus assumed, as she had been a professional Quidditch player and Bagman always had good contact to all teams of the league and therefore he could not annoy her, she would have avoided him if she had contrary feelings. But sometimes Severus thought that he had seen a little bit of disagreement when Bagman cut off the start of a conversation between Rolanda and another person, always dragging her to the dance floor or offering her another drink or canape. But then again she looked somewhat happy, maybe because he was simply a connection to the world of professional Quidditch that she had been forced to leave to early due to injuries.

_His hand upon your hand_

Severus desperately tried to shake the thoughts off that were leading him to Rolanda again and again. During his third fire whiskey he just decided to turn his back to the Great Hall, simply not able to witness the brazenly flirting between this scumbag Bagman and his... and Rolanda anymore without feeling the urge to vomit. He had always thought that Bagman was one of these people you could not believe that they were needed, and that people obviously kept falling for them. What did Rolanda found so impressive about him? This guy definitely had his best days behind him! He did not look as good as he had years ago, he was getting lazy about his body, gained more weight and also wore this incredibly horrible robes, even for a formal occasion!

'Stop it, Severus. You are doing it again', a low voice in the back of his head said, giving him a mental slap. 'It is none of your business if she likes that man, as her friend you should be happy if she is happy with him!'

He told the voice to shut up, downed the rest of the content of his glass and decided to take a small walk through the space in front of the entrance that had been transformed into a park to look if there were any students sneaking around that did not belong there.

_His lips caress your skin_

_It´s more than I can stand!_

Severus was happy about his thick cloak shielding him from the cold around him as he walked through the snowy landscape of hedges and marble benches. The freezing night air felt sharp as he deeply inhaled it, trying to free his mind at least for once this evening. His feet slowly guided him through the small park and it just seemed that he had succeeded mentally as he heard voices from around the corner that definitely belonged to the people that he had tried to erase.

"Beautiful night, isn´t it?", said Ludo and as Severus looked around the corner he saw them standing in front of a large fountain, its magical water still flowing in the cold. Ludo did not left Rolanda any time to answer, pulling the surprised witch close and kissing her hard on the mouth.

Severus felt how his stomach turned while pure, acid jealousy burned through his veins, making his heart ache in pain. This had to be a nightmare, it just had to be! He hoped that he would awake, finding himself in his bed, but he had to realize that this was not a dream, that this was real as a low growl escaped Bagmans throat as his lips left Rolandas shortly after starting the kiss to wander over her throat.

Severus thought about just running away as he did not wanted to witness any further, feeling as if his heart was in a cold, iron grip, but just as he was able to make his right foot move on his order, he heard Rolanda hiss:"Stop it!"

_Why does my heart cry?_

Immediately he turned around again, seeing how Rolanda, who had not responded to Bagman´s previous kiss, stiffened even more and put her hands on his chest to shove him away from her. Severus felt how anger rose above the jealousy as he saw that Ludo ignored Rolanda´s request, letting his hands wander over her waist while he grinned:"Oh, come on, don´t be so shy. I know you want it!"

"No!", Rolanda tried to push him away once more. "I don´t want this! Get away from me!"

She managed to get about a half step of distance between them, happy about the fact that his hands were not touching her anymore. She had been completely stunned by the sudden acting of Ludo, and even more about the fact that he seemed to have the intention of moving forward quickly as she saw that the belt of his trousers was already undone.

"What?! You made me hot all evening and now you turn me down?", Ludo screamed at her, making her shrug in shock. He could not be serious about that!

"I never did anything to encourage you!"

Severus had already been prepared to step out of his hiding place as he saw how outraged Bagman suddenly turned to be, accusing Rolanda to...

"You little slut!", Bagman blared out and slapped Rolanda over the face. "Who do you think you are?"

As he saw how Bagman slapped her, the last safety catch inside Severus got blasted away and he sprinted forwards, closing the distance between him and Bagman with only a few large steps. He grabbed the collar of Bagman´s robes and shoved him a step away from Rolanda who was holding her burning cheek with one hand, tears streaming down her face. Only seconds later, Severus fist hit Bagman´s face and he felt a little bit satisfied as he heard his nose break. Afterwards, he pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Ludo in one fluid motion.

"Run or I swear I will not be able to control myself and cut your dirty hands off!", he snarled with a dangerous glare occupying his dark eyes. Bagman hurried to get to his feet while blood streamed down his face and stumbled to escape the scene. As soon as the man had passed the corner Severus turned to look after Rolanda.

_Feelings I can´t fight_

What he saw made his heart melt, but also let the anger boil up once more. Rolanda cowered on the snow, shivering in the cold night while she sobbed into her hands covering her face. Without thinking Severus took his cloak and knelt down, carefully wrapping the fabric around her bare shoulders. He gently pulled her into a comforting embrace, trying to calm her down.

"Hey... it´s okay, he is gone, he won´t touch you anymore!", he whispered into her ear and ran one hand over her upper back while she pressed her face into his chest, still crying.

"I... I can´t... can´t b-believe he d-did that..."

Her voice sounded weak and as he looked down into her face he saw so much vulnerability that he had to look twice to reassure himself that this was really the strong, independent Rolanda Hooch in front of him. He carefully cupped the uninjured side of her face and examined the cheek that Ludo had slapped. The skin was already getting red and he would see that the hit had also caused her a split lip.

"This asshole, I swear by every damn powerful wizard, even Gryffindor, if I ever see the face of this scumbag again I will forget myself!", he growled while he performed a spell to get a small towel full with ice and gently placed it on her face.

"How much does it hurt?", he asked, his concern clearly showing off in every single movement and word of his. Rolanda looked at him while his thumb touched the small split in her lip, wondering why she just had the luck to see Severus Snape like presumably no one had ever seen him before. She had never seen him taking care of someone like this and she felt safe when his warm hands touched her skin. Her palm came to rest on the back of the hand holding the cool-pack and even as she just felt like crying, she managed a small, really small smile.

"Thank you", she whispered and her skin prickled as he wiped a tear away that had just fallen from her eye. "Why..."

"Because I was concerned. Because I just could not stand how he treated you the whole evening as if you were some nice new jewelery to show off. Because there were feelings inside of me that I could not fight. And because I did not rescue you earlier, I am so sorry for that, Rolanda, if I had just intercepted and taken you for a dance, then... I am sorry..."

"Shh... don´t...", she mumbled, silencing him by touching his lips with her fingertips. "You could not have foreseen this, don´t blame yourself now, I..."

"Then don´t blame yourself either. You have done nothing that would have given him the permission to approach you like this."

"I know", she breathed, holding his gaze. Severus felt his heartbeat fasten and he just desperately wanted to kiss her, but he did not thing that this was the right way to act in this situation. He would be doing the same as Bagman, taking advantage of the situation and that would have left him on the same stage – the one of a selfish scumbag that did not respect a woman!

"I... I should escort you to your rooms, it is rather cold out here!", he said into the silence. There was a tension between them that made him feel uncomfortable because he had not gathered much knowledge on this terrain. Rolanda saw the insecurity in his eyes and whispered:"You did not leave me any opportunity to thank my knight in shining armor for the rescue!"

"I am not...", Severus swallowed, feeling definitely not like a hero, but once again she stopped him:"You know, in ancient tales the dark knight looked frightening on the outside, but he had a heart of gold on the inside, leading him to defend the justice."

She chuckled as she saw how his cheeks slightly reddened and leaned forward, rising one hand to his face before her bruised lips slightly brushed over his, creating a pleasant tingle for both of them. Severus could not react any other than to kiss her back, gently, carefully, always afraid to hurt her, while his heart seemed to jump out of his chest in joy.

As disappointing as the evening had started, the better was the ending of it for Severus Snape. He had rightfully defended his heart and for the first time in his life, he discovered a chivalry that he had not known that he was having inside him.

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Oookay... wait, I did miss something here... the end partly turned out a bit like a scene from "Pretty Woman" ? It is two am in the morning, that may be a explanation ^^

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it anyways, if so, leave me a comment :)


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